Tuesday, 12 May 2015

Will Norwegian vapers lose their strongest supporters?

The Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research, SIRUS, will become part of the Norwegian Institute for Public health (NIPH) from January 1st 2016. This is presented inthe revised national budget2015 published today. Even if it wasn't official until today, the news didn't come as a surprise to the researchers who work at SIRUS as they'd already been informed that this would probably happen. SIRUSresearchers havespoken out, contrary to thecurrentadvice ofFHIseveral timesin recent years. They've been positive to both snus and e-cigarettes as means to quit smoking, and have been one of the strongest, most influential voices of reason in the vaping debate here in Norway. When the NIPH published their report on vaping not long ago, which resulted in a lot of scaremongering in the media, SIRUS was immediately out there criticising it's obvious errors and presenting the real truth to the public.Yesterday several of the SIRUS researchers told the media that this is not something they look forward to, as they fear they will loose their ability to freely express their views and results to the public when they become a part of the NIPH. Head of research at SIRUS, Karl Erik Lund fears that politics will become more important than the truth:

InSiruswe havecomplete freedom toexpress our opinionsas scientistsin the media,basedon what we do. Ifearthat wewill not be able to do thatas part of NIPH. Iused to work there...

AtNIPH there has been aninternaljusticethat they mustspeak with one voiceapproved by managementnot to losecredibility.Admittedly,the current director said thatresearchers atNIPHwillgain greaterfreedom of speech, but it can bedifficult to combinewithNIPHtasks.

... and so do researcher Hilde Pape that fears moral elements will stand in the way of science:

NIPH should provide advice. Initthere is alsomoralelements, andit is far frombeingresearch. These include thegovernment'sadvicethat pregnant womenshould nottouch alcohol at all. This ismore moralthanresearch-based, as anyadverse effectfromreal-lifemoderateconsumption is actually documented.

Lots of nice words there, but what will happen when this organization changes is actually implemented, time will tell. As I said SIRUS has been one of the strongest supporters of e-cigarettes here in Norway, and have been very active in the media, getting real, science based facts and truths out in the media. They've been out there whenever some scaremongering propaganda has been planted in the media, or when the media themselves (decides to) misinterpret some report to create some horror story.

I do agree with Karl Erik Lund and the rest of the SIRUS scientists in that this is just wrong and that SIRUS should remain in it's current independent form to be able to continue to spread pure scientific facts, uninfluenced by politics and moral. But sadly I don't think that this is going to happen. What we can hope for however, is that they will manage to influence the NIPH in a positive way. I also do believe they will try their best, cause I think they've shown us that they're not the kind of people that will be easily silenced. So do I think Norwegian vapers will lose their strongest supporters now? Honestly, I don't think we've seen the last of these guys in the media. I think we'll continue to see them speaking the truth to Norwegian media, but if they will do it on behalf of NIPH I don't know yet. If Camilla Stoltenberg is true to her words, there is hope.

The Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research, SIRUS, will become part of the Norwegian Institute for Public health (NIPH) from January 1st 2016. This is presented inthe revised national budget2015 published today. Even if it wasn't official until today, the news didn't come as a surprise to the researchers who work at SIRUS as they'd already been informed that this would probably happen. SIRUSresearchers havespoken out, contrary to thecurrentadvice ofFHIseveral timesin recent years. They've been positive to both snus and e-cigarettes as means to quit smoking, and have been one of the strongest, most influential voices of reason in the vaping debate here in Norway. When the NIPH published their report on vaping not long ago, which resulted in a lot of scaremongering in the media, SIRUS was immediately out there criticising it's obvious errors and presenting the real truth to the public.Yesterday several of the SIRUS researchers told the media that this is not something they look forward to, as they fear they will loose their ability to freely express their views and results to the public when they become a part of the NIPH. Head of research at SIRUS, Karl Erik Lund fears that politics will become more important than the truth:

InSiruswe havecomplete freedom toexpress our opinionsas scientistsin the media,basedon what we do. Ifearthat wewill not be able to do thatas part of NIPH. Iused to work there...

AtNIPH there has been aninternaljusticethat they mustspeak with one voiceapproved by managementnot to losecredibility.Admittedly,the current director said thatresearchers atNIPHwillgain greaterfreedom of speech, but it can bedifficult to combinewithNIPHtasks.

... and so do researcher Hilde Pape that fears moral elements will stand in the way of science:

NIPH should provide advice. Initthere is alsomoralelements, andit is far frombeingresearch. These include thegovernment'sadvicethat pregnant womenshould nottouch alcohol at all. This ismore moralthanresearch-based, as anyadverse effectfromreal-lifemoderateconsumption is actually documented.

Lots of nice words there, but what will happen when this organization changes is actually implemented, time will tell. As I said SIRUS has been one of the strongest supporters of e-cigarettes here in Norway, and have been very active in the media, getting real, science based facts and truths out in the media. They've been out there whenever some scaremongering propaganda has been planted in the media, or when the media themselves (decides to) misinterpret some report to create some horror story.

I do agree with Karl Erik Lund and the rest of the SIRUS scientists in that this is just wrong and that SIRUS should remain in it's current independent form to be able to continue to spread pure scientific facts, uninfluenced by politics and moral. But sadly I don't think that this is going to happen. What we can hope for however, is that they will manage to influence the NIPH in a positive way. I also do believe they will try their best, cause I think they've shown us that they're not the kind of people that will be easily silenced. So do I think Norwegian vapers will lose their strongest supporters now? Honestly, I don't think we've seen the last of these guys in the media. I think we'll continue to see them speaking the truth to Norwegian media, but if they will do it on behalf of NIPH I don't know yet. If Camilla Stoltenberg is true to her words, there is hope.